UP to 70 Labour MPs could face the sack before the next general election in a purge of Jeremy Corbyn’s opponents.
The bloodshed fears come as Labour posted its worst ever polling result as the party slumped to fourth place with to just 18 per cent of the vote.
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MPs believe party bosses are trying to oust those considered ‘anti-Corbyn’ and ditch them from their seats.
Labour general secretary, Jennie Formby, wrote to all MPs last week giving them a fortnight to put their names forward to stand for re-selection at the next election.
It comes after the party changed its rules to force sitting MPs to go through a re-selection process within their constituency branches.
Party members could face “trigger ballots” should activists believe they should be replaced.
An internal Labour group, which refused to be named, said as many as 70 MPs are at risk of being deselected, the i newspaper has reported.
One Labour MP said: “Some people are worried, some are organising, we’re all thinking about it.
“It’s another example of how they aren’t going to take their foot off our throats until they’ve choked us.
Corbyn’s Labour records worst ever poll
Labour has slumped to fourth place in its worst ever opinion poll showing.
The party is backed by just 18% of voters, two points down on a week ago, according to a YouGov survey.
The Tories have climbed two points to stand at 24% while the Brexit Party is on 23% and the Liberal Democrats have 20%.
With Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit strategy under intense scrutiny, the survey found that only 25% of Remain backers intend to support Labour.
This compares with 48% of Remainers who said they would vote for the party at the beginning of the year, and 40% who gave it their backing at the end of April.
Just 8% of Leave supporters say they will vote Labour, compared with 21% in January, according to the poll.
“There’s nowhere to hide from the Corbyn project – not on the frontbench, not on the backbench, not by sending out sycophantic tweets. If you don’t share their worldview they will be coming for you.”
The move has led some to accuse party bosses of attempting a “purge” of anti-Corbyn MPs.
However, the plan could backfire in pro-Remain London seats where sitting MPs have backed the party’s controversial Brexit policy.
Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, one of Corbyn’s key allies, is among those who could be in the firing line.
Other MPs also reportedly under threat of the axe are Leeds Central MP Hilary Benn and Yvette Cooper the MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford.
Veteran MP Margaret Beckett was also targeted by Momentum last year after she criticised the Labour leader.
Earlier today the head of the civil service Sir Mark Sedwill said that he was appalled to read comments that Mr Corbyn was not “physically or mentally” up to the job of prime minister.
A Cabinet Office probe into the controversy launched by the civil service will have an independent element, Labour said after a 45-minute discussion of the matter between Sir Mark and Mr Corbyn.
It is understood that at the meeting Sir Mark made it clear that civil servants conducting the inquiry are not connected with the event where the comments are said to have been made.
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